[abstract] PERCEIVED QUALITY OF LIFE AMONG PREVIOUSLY INJURED RECREATIONAL DIVERS: A PILOT STUDY

[abstract] PERCEIVED QUALITY OF LIFE AMONG PREVIOUSLY INJURED RECREATIONAL DIVERS: A PILOT STUDY

Author:

Robison, JD; Reed, WL; Freiberger, JJ; Pollock, NW

Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Although reports indicate that more than 90percent of residual symptoms of decompression illness (DCI) following recreational diving resolve within 12 months, data on long-term status are largely unavailable. This study used a clinically proven survey tool to examine the perceived quality-of-life of divers following treated DCI. METHODS: The Duke Health Profile (DHP) is a validated tool used for greater than 20 years to assess 11 physical/cognitive domains (0-100 continuous scales). The DHP was administered to 57 divers in a Case-Control design. Each Case (n=19) was matched by age and gender with two Controls (n=38). Cases (treated divers) were identified through the Divers Alert Network (DAN) roster of diving injuries. Controls (divers with no record of treatment) were recruited from DAN's Project Dive Exploration database. Surveys were administered once by telephone to Cases during routine post-injury follow-ups (11.4+/-5.6 months post-injury) and to Controls during dedicated interviews. Statistical analyses employed non-parametric Mann-Whitney to address the non-normal data distribution. Data are reported as mean+/-SD (significance accepted at p less than 0.05). RESULTS: Cases (listed first) had significantly worse scores in four domains: Physical (66+/-29 vs. 85+/-15), Social (80+/-16 vs. 90+/-11), General (78+/-17 vs. 89+/-10), and Pain (45+/-37 vs. 21+/-28). Cases and Controls did not differ in seven domains: Self-Esteem (82+/-25 vs. 96+/-7; p=0.059), Disability (8+/-19 vs. 4+/-18; p=0.208), Perceived Health (91+/-19 vs. 95+/-16; p=0.312), Anxiety (20+/-24 vs. 11+/-14; p=0.493), Anxiety-Depression (20+/-26 vs. 11+/-15; p=0.514), Depression (23+/-30 vs. 12+/-15; p=0.527), and Mental (87+/-23 vs. 92+/-14; p=0.750). CONCLUSIONS: The self-reported quality-of-life of Cases was worse than Controls as measured by the DHP. This preliminary study suggests that there may be unrecognized differences in treated and not treated divers or that diving injuries may have more residual effects than currently appreciated. Additional investigations and longer follow-up of divers treated for DCI are warranted. Student investigator funded by DAN internship program.